BCS Title Game, Southern Poker Championship, and other tidbits... part one

This week I haven't been able to figure out my schedule at all as to when I’ll get over to the Beau Rivage to play some Texas Holdem poker. I believe I will be able to maybe play an event on Thursday or Friday. I have to get all my writing obligations done first, and get a babysitter or two. Didn’t have any help last week which was a busy one for me, so my apologies on my lack of communicating with any friends looking to catch up as I was jammed all week.

What else is on tap for this week besides a poker tournament or two, well, some time soon Google has upped my work load on the site. In doing some research to produce better search results I discovered Google’s requirements differ from our website format a little bit for being in their Newsfeed. Essentially, to be considered a newsfeed you either have to work like a blog (odd when you think about the friction between “news” sites and blogs) or have articles that appear with at least three consecutive numbers in the web-address.

Our archives section would function as that but there is only 1 to 2 numbers in their page address, so I have to change all the pages and the subsequent links. Probably will have to change the verbiage of “archives” to articles which should only confuse the new readers we get when the subsequent pages are old “news.” Should be fun (for people that can’t read tone that was sarcasm).

The pay-off is worth the work as we should get a lot more people checking in from afar. That and a scrubbing of the Front Page is in order. I don’t know how much we’d change the format (we might tweak it), but there are some bloggers up there who haven’t posted in a year or so. We’d certainly be better off moving them down, and as a result shortening the page (course archiving everything a little sooner would only help us with the Google Newsfeed requirements). Anyway, that’s going to be a ton of busy work. So, I have to carve out time to do all that, hope it doesn’t come at the expense of playing poker.

I’m all aquiver about the BCS title game and obviously won’t be getting anything done during that. Weirdly, as much as I am excited about it, I also feel like that comic bit about being Next in line. Forget who said it but "Next" is the best status to be, always. You have no one in front of you. Course when they do call you, you are no longer next, so the comic says I just let people go ahead so I'm still "next." Maybe it was Carlin (though it sounds a little beneath his genuis even if the truth is illuminated). Well, as the game approaches, Auburn has a shot at being National Champions, in a season, that's been the most exciting for me as a fan of any season, and I don't want it to end.

Sure, I want them to finish it off and win the championship. But what if they don't. Or, what if they do, but then the magic is over. Sure, I'll have the memories but nothing is more electric than knowing your team is in it to win it. It's like the buzz for sports gamblers, the final score just ends it that elation, whether it's a win or a loss. Besides Auburn's history is one of close calls and might have beens. Read this article in the Oregon Live for evidence of that.

Tonight, the dream year for Auburn is over. Win or lose, the only thing to come after tonight will just be bad news. Possible violations, possilbe probation, possible scandal, players going to the NFL, a return to average so to speak next year. Meanwhile, until the game is played none of those realities have to be dealt with. So yeah, I'm looking forward to the game, hoping it goes my way, but there is a part of me that hopes it just wouldn't happen, that Auburn would always be "Next."